As the organizers of the action explain, "during the year, the place of memory associated with the history of the Nizhny Novgorod fair and the Gorky port is being systematically destroyed." And it is highly likely that during the long New Year's holidays, the territory will be razed to the ground. In particular, workers have already begun to dismantle the brick walls of unique warehouses dating from the late 19th century - despite the fact that until January 2018, any manipulation of buildings was vetoed.
We will remind, two years ago in the closed port of Nizhny Novgorod were unexpectedly discovered
unique warehouses on "lace" bearing structures. Thanks to the research of the architect Denis Plekhanov, it was possible to establish that the surviving structures are fragments of the pavilions of the All-Russian industrial and art exhibitions of 1882 and 1896. Later, this hypothesis was documented by enthusiasts.
Despite the obvious (historical and technological) value of both these finds and buildings previously known to the public, over the course of two years, Strelka has been gradually losing them (needless to say that b about most of it was dismantled without legal grounds).
The official reason for the clean-up is the arrangement of the territory for the 2018 World Cup. In 2015, the construction of the stadium began here, and an addition to it was supposed to be a walking area in the form of an Orthodox park of military glory. The activists were outraged by the decision of the authorities to level the cape to the ground and were able to defend the integrity of Strelka for a while. City activists proposed to reorganize it in two stages: first, prepare a site for the World Cup, with "conservation of objects, temporary improvement of the territory, regulated access to Strelka, with a gradual increase in the types of activities and events", and then, after the World Cup, on a competitive basis to create "a complex corresponding to the high status of the place and the ambitions of large developers." Within the framework of the Eco-Shore festival, several options for reorganization solutions were developed, but due to the fact that the contestants were not familiar with the “tete-a-tete” area, they all got “some kind of architectural design of the space” without reference to “models of possible behavior and an idea of the urgent needs of the townspeople, "- as described by Marina Ignatushko, an architectural critic from Nizhny Novgorod, and one of the founders of the" Open Strelka "movement. More details about the projects can be found here.
The list of losses of the Nizhny Novgorod Strelka includes two warehouses created in the 1930s. Reinforced concrete structures with expressive coffered ceilings are associated with the name of the architect Alexander Zinovievich Grinberg; they were destroyed in August 2017. The buildings, made with conscience, witnesses of the history of the Gorky port, could be restored and adapted to the needs of the townspeople, - explain the city activists. But despite numerous requests to preserve the constructivist warehouses, they hastened to demolish them. As well as a year earlier - tower cranes, which were removed as unnecessary metal debris.
The arrow has lost its 80-year-old rails and bollards. To the appeal of city rights activists with a request to keep them, the officials first answered that the issue of fences was not discussed, and then they simply decided to postpone it until the concept was clarified. But all the debate was resolved by the scrap metal collectors - they managed to remove the fences. Then a bunker from the Second World War burned down, which activists proposed to turn into a museum. He, too, did not wait for the decision of the authorities: at first the bomb shelter was plundered by looters, and in November, after the enthusiasts welded the entrances and exits, the bunker unexpectedly and mysteriously burned down - there was, in fact, nothing to burn there. All of the above losses can be added to the fairgrounds - two-storey buildings that had the status of valuable urban development. Permission for the demolition was given by the former head of the regional state conservation culture Vladimir Khokhlov.
176 million rubles have been allocated for the improvement of the territory on Strelka, however, as the defenders of the heritage point out, there are no realistic and concrete plans. “Instead of evolutionary development based on a common heritage resource, the city received a banal clearing of the site. The constructions, designed to serve as a support, a frame, will be exhibited on their own, clearly demonstrating that residents of Nizhny Novgorod are not able to read and preserve meanings,”the activists say.
